


Invisible Cage

by erikssiren



Category: Reign (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, background Kenna/Bash, background Mary/Francis, but I had to write this, this will probably be AU once the episode airs tomorrow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-20
Updated: 2014-11-20
Packaged: 2018-02-26 08:29:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2645093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erikssiren/pseuds/erikssiren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Lola refuses Francis' demand to no longer have anything to do with Lord Narcisse, she gets locked in the Tower. Narcisse, of course, comes to see her and they get a chance to talk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Locked Away

**Author's Note:**

> The characters are not mine, but the story is. Please don't copy this and claim it as your own. There has been a problem with this lately and I wanted to add this here.
> 
> I really wanted to write a fic for the Lola/Narcisse pairing and I was kind of inspired by the recent scenes between Francis and Lola. Then this fic kind of got away from me. It's basically things I want to hear these characters say/talk about on the show but don't know if they will. Also everyone may be slightly out of character in that I think Francis is a little harsher here to Lola than he is on the show and Narcisse is a little gentler.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Francis and Lola fight; Bash visits Lola in the Tower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been dying to write a Lola/Narcisse fic since they started interacting onscreen and this is it! I was inspired by the previews for tomorrow's (Nov. 20) episode and this just sort of happened. It's the longest fic I've written in ages and also the first one I've written for some time. I also apologize for the spacing, I'm not sure what happened. I hope you enjoy it!

Lola entered the king’s study quietly, curtseying properly as the page introduced her.

“Your majesty,” she murmured as she rose.

“Lola,” Francis sighed her name in exasperation and she met his gaze. He looked tired behind his desk littered with papers.

“You wanted to speak with me?” She asked, taking a step closer, her tone a bit warmer. She had been avoiding him since their argument.

“How close are you becoming with Lord Narcisse?” Francis asked without preamble.

“Pardon me?” She tried, and failed, to not hear Narcisse’s voice in her ear, warning her against Francis’ attempt to use her.

“I know you two have been talking and that you’ve visited his estate more than once since the last time we spoke.”

“We’re…trying to understand each other,” Lola said haltingly, folding her hands in front of her.

“You need to be careful,” Francis warned, surging up suddenly from his chair and coming closer to her. “He’s a man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.”

“Yes, I know,” Lola said, smiling at the memory of their impromptu archery lesson and his body pressed against hers when he kissed her. She glanced up at Francis to see him looking at her in horror.

“You haven’t –“ he whispered. “Dear God please tell me you haven’t slept with him.” Now it was Lola’s turn to be horrified.

“That’s none of your business!” she said, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment.

“Of course it is!” He shot back, circling towards the fireplace. “You are not just my friend, Lola. You are the mother of my child, a lady in waiting to my wife-"

“And what, I’m just supposed to stand docile in the corner until you have use of me?” She snapped back. “I’m not just some tool you can put in a drawer when you don’t need it.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Francis said,, stepping back towards her. “I am concerned that he is only using you for the connections you have.”

Tears welled in Lola’s eyes. It was a thought she’d had herself, but it hurt even so when he said it out loud. “Every man at court is either afraid of me or wants to use me, because they are all perfectly aware of my connections.” She spat the word out viciously. “Almost all of them think I’m still your mistress. Some of them blame me for your lack of a legitimate child.”

Francis couldn’t look at her, instead stared into the fire. “That’s not your fault,” he said lowly. “It’s Narcisse’s. He’s placed a wedge between me and Mary, between me and my people.”

“Because he’s blackmailing you?” She whispered. “You can’t blame him for everything, Francis.” Francis was in front of her in only a few strides, his eyes suddenly wild. He looked like his father.

“What has he told you?” He growled. Lola couldn’t answer, fear took her voice. “What has he told you?” He shook her once, hard.

“Stop, please,” she begged. “You’re scaring me.” Her voice seemed to snap him from his sudden anger and he released her quickly, turning back to the fire. “And he’s only told me that he’s holding something dangerous against you,” she lied, “that he’s pressuring you to do what he thinks is right for the country.”

“And you believe him,” Francis stated in a defeated voice.

“I believe he thinks so,” Lola said gently, joining him in front of the fireplace. “I don’t condone what he’s done but I also think he’s still fueled by revenge and grief.” She stared into the orange flames, thinking of the way Narcisse strode through the castle. How he looked at her as though he had already won; that it was only a matter of time. “He’s a very powerful man, as you said he’s used to getting what he wants.” She laid a hand gently on his arm. Francis stared at her a moment.

“And he’ll do anything, including threatening the life of our child, to get it.” Lola’s body froze with fear.

“What?” When Francis didn’t answer, she gripped his arm tighter. “He’s threatened our baby? My son? Don’t leave me out, Francis, because you think it will protect me,” she insisted when he said nothing.

“I was ready to die for the secret he has stacked against me," Francis admitted after a few tense seconds of silence. "I was willing to let him reveal it and let my people kill me for it. But then he threatened Mary, my mother, you…” he met her eyes. “And our child. He said you would all die if I didn’t do what he wanted.”

“He wouldn’t,” Lola protested weakly. He was not a man easily trusted, but she had believed him when he claimed he wanted nothing but her.

“Promise me you won’t see him anymore,” Francis begged. “Because the only way to save Mary’s life and my marriage is to get rid of Narcisse. To save her, to save our child, I will take his head.”

“Whatever he has threatened, perhaps it was a ruse. He..." she trailed off. How could she explain to Francis how she felt about Narcisse when she could barely understand it herself? "His interest in me has done me good, since Julien's death." She sounded small, pathetic even to her own ears. But the thought of going back, to going through this life invisible was unbearable.

“It’s all a lie, Lola, surely you see that?” Francis asked, his hand coming up to cover hers still clutching at his arm. "He’s using you as another pawn against me. He’s using our son.”

“I’m no pawn to him,” Lola insisted. She had to hang on to this hope, however foolish it was. She couldn’t survive it if Francis was right about Narcisse. 

“Do you hear yourself?” Francis let out an exasperated sigh. “You think a man like that cares about women? He’s had four wives! They’re nothing to him.”

“If I was nothing, he wouldn’t go to such lengths to gain my trust,” Lola argued. “He’d threaten me, or…” seduce me, she thought. Didn’t Kenna say that? Maybe they were both right, that this was just an elaborate game of seduction to pull her to his side. Had he succeeded?

“Unlike most women you don’t react submissively to threats,” Francis said with a hint of pride in his voice. “You fight back. He’s gaining your trust, pitting you against your friends so when the time comes he is the only one you trust.”

“So he’s the one who used me then?” Lola shot back, recalling their last fight. “Asked me to incriminate an innocent man-"

“Narcisse is anything but innocent,” Francis interrupted her hotly. He broke her grip and walked back towards the desk. “Promise me,” he said again.

“I can’t,” she whispered and watched as his spine straightened and guilt momentarily filled his features.

“I forbid you to see Narcisse, for your safety and that of our child,” he ordered, his voice brooking no argument. “And I can’t risk you warning him.”

“You can’t do that!” Lola cried. “I’m not your wife, I’m not your mistress-“

“No but I am king!” he shouted. “And I am ordering you as king to stay away from Lord Narcisse.”

“No,” Lola replied, bracing herself for whatever he threw at her. “I will not.”

“You’re disobeying your king?” He asked incredulously.

“Didn’t you tell me you couldn’t order me?” Francis gripped the desk tighter, Lola could see his frustration rising. “Please,” she said as she tried to keep her voice from shaking. “If what you said was true, I need to hear it from him as well. I want him to admit to me he threatened my son." It was a weak bid for more time, her feeble best to try and save Narcisse's life and both she and Francis knew it.

“No,” Francis ground out. “You are to having nothing more to do with him. Let me handle it.”

“I won’t,” Lola responded determinedly. 

“This is treason,” Francis threatened, his voice pleading. “Do you understand? To disobey the king is treason.”

“Are you going to kill me?” Her voice sounded braver than she felt. He watched her face for a moment before shouting for his guards. Lola felt as though she might faint. He would never…

“Take the Lady Lola to the tower. Keep her there until I say so.” The guards bowed and moved towards Lola.

“You can’t do this!” She cried as Francis stepped away, not looking back at her. “Francis, please see reason!” He said nothing and Lola, realizing defeat, tore her arms away from the guards. “If you insist on imprisoning me, I will walk on my own. I refused to be carted up there like a criminal.”

“Take her through the back hallways,” Francis said, his voice weary and his back still to her. “Make sure she isn’t seen, or at least seen by very few.” She followed the guards out but looked back to Francis at the door, he still didn't face her and refused to do so even as the doors closed with an echoing thud behind her. 

\------

Lola sat in the dark cell, the walls still echoing her laugh of disbelief as she recognized the cell as the one the queen had been locked in. The cell Lola had mocked her in. It had been a day, she thought, since Francis had her sent here. No one had come to see her, which made the squeak of the cell door surprising. The fact that Bash walked in was even more so.

“What on earth are you doing here?” She asked as a guard brought in a second chair. Unlike the queen, she had been allowed a table, a chair and covers for her bed. “Not to be rude but you’re the last person I’d expect to come see me.”

“I am the king’s deputy,” he said sadly. “It’s my duty to check in on the prisoners.”

“Is that what I am now, a prisoner?”

“Francis just wants to keep you safe,” Bash said gently. Lola scoffed. “You’re a noblewoman who defied the king,” he added in a harsher voice as he sat down.

“Because he forbade me to see a man he dislikes,” she argued, pacing slightly in front of Bash.

“What is your relationship with Lord Narcisse?” Bash asked, his hand resting easily on his sword hilt, his blue eyes following her movements carefully.

“None of your business,” she returned hotly. “And none of Francis’ to be perfectly honest.”

“Lola, he is a dangerous man,” Bash leaned forward, his voice urgent. “You don’t know what he’s capable of.”

“But I do,” Lola said quietly, stopping in front of him. “Unlike Francis, he told me what he’s been doing. In detail.” Bash seemed shocked at this, leaning away from her with suspicion across his face. “You know, don’t you?”

Bashed ignored her question and asked his own. “You still you want to see him?”

Lola sat down slowly in the other chair, choosing her words carefully. “Yes, he told me what... his dealings are with the king,” she said vaguely, her eyes flickering to the guards outside the open door of her cell. “And unlike the king he did not ask me to do anything for him concerning those dealings.”

Bash took her in for a moment before laughing quietly. “You’re a brave woman, Lola,” he said with slight admiration in his voice.

“You’re wrong,” she sighed. “I’m a foolish girl who thinks she knows what she’s doing and may be over her head.”

“What do you mean?” He asked, concerned.

“I have two very powerful men vying for my loyalty and I have promised neither anything.” She twisted her hands in her lap. “It’s no wonder I ended up here.”

Bash reached out for her hand and she took the friendly gesture. “You know Francis only wants to keep you safe,” he repeated, “and the baby. Letting Narcisse into your life is a danger." 

“I’m not a child,” Lola responded hotly and tried to take her hand away but Bash’s grip was firm. “I can make my own decisions, my own mistakes. And don’t either of you dare to tell me I don’t think of my son when I make them.”

“Visiting Narcisse at his estate, alone; flirting with him at court, was that for your son?” Bash asked, his voice intense.

“Yes,” Lola hissed. “Flirting with him or with any man who comes to me without fear or expectation of something- and that’s a short list of men-is in my son’s benefit. I want to be independent but I’m not stupid. I know without a husband my reach will be limited. But if I’m going to have any sort of life for my child, he needs a father and I need a man who will value me.”

“He has a father,” Bash insisted. “And Francis does values you.”

Lola scoffed and waved her free hand to indicate the cell. “Yes I can see that.” Bash leaned back and this time Lola grabbed his hand with both of hers. “Surely Bash, you of all people understand what I’m trying to do. Henry was your father but his duty as king often overrode any paternal instinct toward you.” When he didn’t answer, she gripped his hand even tighter, desperate to have him understand. “I want my child to have a man who he can look up to, not someone whose footsteps he will try his entire life to fill, or someone to resent for calling him a bastard and ignoring him.”

Bash didn’t immediately respond, but covered her hands with his free one. “You are an extraordinary woman, Lola,” he said gently. “If I hadn’t been so in love with Mary at the time, I may have done more than a little flirting with you.” Lola smiled at the memory and Bash responded with a smile of his own.

“I’m glad you weren’t because then Henry may have married Kenna off to a horrible man, someone who wouldn’t love her as you do.”

They sat in silence for a moment, before the guard entered and informed Bash his time was up.

“But as you said, two very powerful men have caught you in the middle of their fight,” Bash said as he stood. “If I were you, I’d see this as a blessing in disguise, a way to stay out of it.”

“That’s not likely,” Lola answered, standing as well to watch him leave.

“I thought you’d might say that.” He voice had a bit of laughter in it. “Kenna wants to make sure you have everything you need, I’ll probably be back with gifts from her.”

And then he was gone, and she was alone again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think!


	2. Unlocked door

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lola gets a few more visitors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please see the previous chapter for notes.

The next day the door opened again, this time with both Francis and Mary. Lola curtsied, out of habit, but said nothing.

“Promise me,” Francis repeated his earlier request. Lola glanced at Mary, who watched her friend with pity and confusion.

“I don’t know what is happening, Francis will only tell me that he’s put you here for your own good,” Mary said quietly. “As someone who has been where you are, listen to him.” Lola’s eyebrows rose at this request. Mary was the last person she’d expect to go along with what Francis had done with her. She turned her gaze back to Francis.

“I never meant for this to happen,” he said apologetically. “But you know what the stakes are, and I fear you’d make the wrong decision. Promise me you won’t make contact with him.”

“I won’t promise,” she replied evenly. “King or not I will not let you rule my entire life more than you already have.”

Francis’ jaw set in frustration before he stormed out without a glance back. Mary made to follow him but Lola caught her arm.

“Please make him see reason,” Lola begged. “He’s not thinking clearly.”

“He and I aren’t speaking,” Mary said, not meeting her friend’s eyes. “I’ve tried everything I can to get him to tell me, but he won’t. I will try to get you out, though.”

Somehow Lola didn’t believe her.

Several days after Francis’ visit, the door swung open again, almost silently. Lola looked up from her book on loan from Kenna to see Narcisse surveying her with an unreadable expression.

“This is cozy,” he said with a smile. A smile that faded slightly when she didn’t respond, but instead focused on her book. “What sort of man locks up the mother of his child, a women he insists is a friend, just because she told him no?” He tried again as he took a step forward. His tone, as ever, was a mixture of playfulness and seriousness, in that low tone that struck a chord in her very core.

It didn’t surprise her that he knew of the particulars of her fight with the king.

“One who feels bullied and cornered by men who are supposed to be loyal to him,” Lola returned in an even tone, her eyes never leaving the page before her. She missed the small frown on the older man’s face but heard the shuffle of feet as he stepped closer.

“Not happy to see me?”

“Give the fact I’m in here to prevent this exact circumstance, I’d say I’m more…frustrated.” Her voice cold voice snapped in the dank air around them.

“I have a feeling you’re more angry,” he said. “Angry with me, from the looks of things, when you should be angry at the man who put you here. What happened?”

“You threatened my son!” Lola shouted, throwing the book on her bed and surging up. Surprised by her sudden change in mood, the older man took one step back. “You threatened the King of France with my son’s death.” Her voice was steel. “You can come after me, but you will not touch my son. Not even with words.”

He stood there, seemingly impassive at her anger and she wanted to claw his eyes out. Her fingers curled and just as she raised her arms he grabbed her and pulled her tight to him.

“Let go of me,” she shouted, struggling hard against him. “I didn’t want to believe him, to believe my doubts about you-“

“What doubts were those?” He interrupted, his voice calm as hers was wild.

“That you only feigned interest in me because of what my son could offer you,” she growled. “But I should have trusted my instincts, I should have run in the other direction the moment I saw you.” He said nothing, but his grip tightened. “For I all know, you pushed Estelle off that cliff just to gain my trust.” His face hardened and she thought he would crush the bones in her arm he was holding her so tight.

“I paid the guard a ridiculous amount of money to get in here because I had to see you, needed to talk to you,” he ground out. “And I’m going to get my money’s worth.”

“You make me do things I would not do otherwise,” she whispered, repeating her words from what felt like weeks ago. Tonight, however, he did not look pleased.

“Who told you I threatened your son?” Narcisse asked, relinquishing his hold on her arms. Lola, her heart beating quick with anger and growing fear, said nothing. “Never mind, I can guess: Francis.” He gestured toward the chair and she sat on the bed instead. He sat beside her, their shoulders pressed against to one another.

“The king was prepared to sacrifice himself by allowing me to start the rumor I had threatened him with,” Narcisse explained. This, at least, Lola knew to be true from Francis’ outburst. “A noble gesture, but we both know I don’t like to give up easily.” Lola said nothing, rubbing her arms gently where he had grabbed her. “So I told him of the failed coup I had discovered as well as the first attempt on King Henry’s life. Not by the guard the king murdered but by the wafers in the chalice, poisoned.” Narcisse leaned in, whispering in her ear. “We all know who enjoys a good poison. I told him if he refused, not only would he be charged with regicide but both queens would be charged with the attempt of it.” Lola gasped and glanced at Narcisse. His usual smirk was gone, a more serious, calculating look instead. He continued in his normal tone. “I warned him if that happened, if they all died as a result of the truth, your son would have a target on his back. And so would you.” He took her hands, gently. “I never directly threatened your son, I never said I would kill him. I merely warned him that it would happen.”

“That doesn’t make it better,” Lola argued hotly, pulling her hands away. “You may not have threatened to swing the axe but you used my child’s safety as a tool against the king! You had no right.”

“I am doing what is right for my country,” he all but shouted.  
“That is not your job!” She argued back. “It is for the king to decide what is right.”

“And how am I supposed to trust a man-barely a man-with the well-being of my country?”

“Exactly, that is why you and the other nobles should have been supporting the king’s decisions from the moment his father died, instead of working against him.”

“I was prepared to do so,” Narcisse admitted. “But then my son was murdered-“

“Because he wanted the queen to kill his enemy!” Lola shouted, her voice echoing and reminding her of their surroundings. “This is not the place to have this argument,” she sighed.

“I didn’t come here to argue politics with you,” Narcisse admitted.

“Then why did you come here?”

“To see, and perhaps make you see, what a man you claim is so good, will do to a woman who defies him,” his voice grew hard but Lola knew it wasn’t directed at her.

“I’m well aware,” she replied. “He locked up my queen to keep her from going to our country in a time of crisis because he believed it to be a trap. But am I supposed to believe you are the better man? A good one?”

“I’m not a good man,” he said simply. “I never claimed to be one. But I value people who are loyal to me. You can’t get to where I am by simply being good. You have to be cunning and resourceful. You have to be willing to do things others won’t, to get blood and mud on your hands.”

They sat in silence for a moment, a million thoughts racing through Lola’s mind. She settled on a thought she couldn’t shake. “I thought I could do it, you know? Thought I could keep up with whatever game you’re playing, keep my head long enough to figure out what to do. Now you’re going to lose yours.”

“Lola, I’m not going to die, he wouldn’t dare,” Narcisse tried to assure her and leaned back on his hands, watching her as she began to pace in the cold light of the cell.

“He as good as told me he was going to the night he locked me up,” she confessed. “And besides, he’s the king! He can do what he likes no matter how much you try to pull on his strings. And more than that he’s the son of Catherine de Medici and Henry II; he has more cunning and foolish bravery than you give him credit for.”

“I know,” he agreed, his usual smirk returning. He stood and walked towards her, stopping only a few inches from her. “Why do you think I’ve resorted to such measures?”

“Lord Narcisse,” a guard interrupted in an embarrassed voice. “My replacement is headed here in only a few moments.”

The older man stepped away from Lola almost reluctantly. “I’ll do what I can to get you out of here,” he promised.

“No, Francis will know it was you. But why are you bothering with me at all? Haven’t I proved I’m more trouble than I’m worth?”

He laughed quietly as he took her hands in his. “All you’ve done is prove how well-matched we are. You have goodness in yourself, something I know I’ll never truly achieve.”

“You could if you tried,” she insisted half-heartedly. He was the type of man she knew she could do little to change. “And I think you give me too much credit - there is much in my past you don't know." 

“I’ll admit I took little notice of you before my recent return to court,” he said as he started toward the door. “But you’re a puzzle I want to understand.”

“I’m not an object you can open up and dissect,” Lola insisted. “I’m a person, with feelings. And whatever it is we’re doing, it can’t just be based on one of us giving the other something they want. It has to be based on more than that.”

“And I want us to have that,” he insisted. “But I’m not the one holding back my trust.”

And with that he was gone and Lola found herself with much more to occupy her time with.

Lola had been dreaming; she was standing on a scaffold with her son crying in her arms and her feet slipping in the blood of others. Her friends were all dead, she knew, but by whom? She looked over at the executioner and stretched out her arm to remove his hood and reveal his face. Somewhere in her mind she knew it could be only one of two men beneath the mask, Francis or Narcisse-

A loud bang shocked her awake and Lola sat straight up in her cot. Her cell door stood wide open and a guard she didn’t recognize stood just outside it, torch in one hand and the other outstretched to her.

“This way, my lady,” he said quietly.

“Where will you take me?” She asked, not moving from beneath the sheets.

“Somewhere safe,” he insisted. “You must hurry.”

“Who hired you to do this?” Still she didn’t move, her dream hung around her like a cloak and fear made her still.

“Lord Narcisse,” he said, taking a few urgent steps into her cell. “We have only minutes, my lady.”

Lola remained rooted in place, her mind racing. She could stay here with the hope that eventually Francis would release her, whenever his crusade against his enemy was over. She could stay and submit to his demands.

Or she could leave and take her first true step on the journey to trust Narcisse promised.

“My son?” She asked, because she knew if she had to choose, she would stay with her child.

“Narcisse has the young baron,” the guard reassured her. “I’m to take you to the woods where he will be waiting with your son.”

Lola stood.

“I suppose I’ve kept him waiting long enough, haven’ I?”

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think! This is my first fic in a long time and one of the longest I've written so feedback would be really helpful.


End file.
